Workforce

Confidence vs. Bravado

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Strong leaders recognize that their self-belief starts from within. They are responsible for their actions and words.  They develop a natural and positive self expression, a genuine confidence that is not false bravado.  They meet challenges by sharing their ideas and solutions without blame, judgment or criticism.  Others are comfortable following their lead, and wish to follow the leader’s example of developing a clear compass for achieving great results.

1)Leaders make mistakes. When they do, they quickly apologize and don’t nitpick the facts. Then, they simply follow through and deliver the newly negotiated agreement on time.

2)Experience is the key to understanding. Everyone has thoughts, opinions and feelings about a situation or person — normally a reflection of their unconscious biases. Conscious recognition and experience require taking responsibility of one’s own perception, and developing compassion for others. Compassion does not imply agreement, but it does develop the depth of soul needed in a true leader.

3)Leaders are able to work with a wide variety of people and situations by relying upon their strengths, and managing their own weaknesses. Leaders who stay focused on the human and material sides of a project are able to elicit the best in others.  They are developing breadth in their own skills and the skills of others at the same time. Their success is repeatable.  They enjoy celebrating their successes, and the outstanding results of others.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2010

Break ‘Through’ Performance

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  • Do you make changes due to boredom?
  • Out-talk others to get your own way?
  • Focus solely on the facts or your feelings to make decisions? 

Many will say, “Of course, everybody does.” These are the normal methods to handle people, systems and issues.  But the same old habits limit your job satisfaction and your ability to achieve outstanding business results.

The world of work is changing.  It requires a new level of performance to recognize new opportunities that meet the needs and business goals of your customers. 

Recognize old habits. They have become your blind spots and are getting in your way.  When you move out of your comfort zone and take the appropriate action(s), new habits will be formed.  Work with a coach to customize solutions that work for you!

Take focused action now.  Busy work is simply your excuse to avoid doing what you know you need to do to achieve the results you say you want.  Work your plan.  Include others and their ideas. Handle the details and make those hard decisions.  Want results? Take focused action.  Now.

Hire a coach.  Many business professionals want to be top performers and enjoy peak performance.  Yet, they hit a wall and slug it out alone. A coach helps you recognize blind spots and stop recycling the same old information in a mental monologue. These insights, when put into action, make you easier to work with, keep you in focused action and have you elicit the best in others.

Break through performance requires out-of-the-box thinking via the synergy of you and your coach.  Recommit to your own success.  Hire a coach and enjoy your new results.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2010

Does perfectionism get in the way of results?

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Perfectionism is a relative term depending upon your viewpoint. Innovative types don’t like to follow the rules. They view others as perfectionists when they ask too many questions or are unable to see the potential success of the venture in the same way they see it. Conversely, the “dot every I and cross every T” type of person looks at others as being irresponsible and unable to plan appropriately — not perfect enough in their thought processes. They simply squash any ideas that don’t match their stringent point of view.

We are all perfectionists at some level! We love to make things harder than they are. We wait for the perfect time in our lives when the economy is good, life circumstances are stable. We wait to be working for the right company, with the right boss and co-workers. In the meantime, we postpone fulfilling our goals and dreams. People stop listening to our ideas. We are upset when others “take our ideas” and are successful!

Attitude The “perfect time” is an attitude. Fulfillment of any business venture or project requires that we focus and follow through. Declare goals. Write-down specific action steps. There is no perfect plan that will prevent inevitable challenges.  Many of us love to make systems harder than they are.  We, make working with others more difficult than it needs to be.  Hiring a coach will provide invaluable simple and strategic insights.

Integrity and ethical behaviors required.  Breakdowns are to be expected, regardless of the “perfect” plan design.  Short-cuts will normally get you in trouble in the long run. Ignoring key issues now may hurt your future reputation, financial solvency, and the ability to attract and retain top performers.  Instead of relying upon your own internal monologue of what is right or wrong, talk through challenges with your business mentor.  Use the opportunity to clarify your perspective and the required action needed to avoid further pitfalls.

Learn when to quickly move forward, and when to strategically wait.  Many people self-sabotage when the results don’t fit their “perfect” view of how they should look. Instead of dealing with the facts, they play spider-solitaire or spend a lot of time surfing the Internet. They blame their lack of focused action upon not having enough: information, time, money, or opportunities. Honor your plan, even if it seems like you’re taking baby-steps. You’ll get there!

Enjoy your achievements and the accomplishments of others, now.  Too often we excuse the importance of acknowledgement due to our ambivalent feelings about being in the spot-light, even for a moment. Appreciate others’ successes and accept their congratulatory wishes. Building upon success keeps you moving forward, and encourages the right people to work with you.

 ©Jeannette Seibly, 2010

Are your employees on the same page with you?

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We inevitably get upset with people who are not doing things the way we would do them ourselves. We expect them to effectively learn after reading a manual or being shown once how to do something. Their lack of consistency loses us customers (both internally and externally). Rarely do we stop to see what is missing from our employees’ perspectives so that they could be on the same page with us. 

1)     Review your training, systems and procedures. What’s missing? The national reading average is 6th grade level. This reflects a person’s ability to adequately comprehend the material and put it to good use. Some people need to talk it out to ensure they understand. Some need to be shown how to do something more than once. Still others need to “try” it themselves first, and then ask for coaching to fill in the gaps.

2)     When hiring and coaching people, we don’t have fool-proof intuitive crystal balls. Use legally and scientifically validated job fit tools for hiring, coaching and managing. This helps us understand objectively why people fail to do work the way we would do it. And it creates an opportunity to provide guidance for skill development (ours and theirs).

3)     Set specific goals, and then manage the milestones to ensure the project and people are all moving forward. When people fail to deliver the necessary results, coach them by focusing on the task at hand. Sometimes you need to be very specific and other times you’ll need to help them understand the bigger picture. Trying to fix the person never works!

 (c)Jeannette Seibly, 2010

Work smarter, not harder

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Do you limit your own success by resisting new ideas about ways to reduce your work challenges?  Are you convinced that, by working hard or being incredibly busy, you will make more money, get that new client (or promotion)?  We often tend to ignore anyone that doesn’t buy into our excuses for not achieving our desired results.  We may fail to realize that working smarter—not harder–is the keystone to achieving great results. 

1. Brainstorm ALL ideas.  What may initially seem like a repetitive conversation can trigger new solutions.  While you are generating new ideas, do not fall into the insidious trap of prematurely deciding good vs. bad, right vs. wrong, or yes vs. no.

2. Listen to the advice of others, selectively.  While everyone and anyone can help us if we truly listen, many times we’ll use the excuse of needing more information instead of taking the necessary actions we know we need to take to resolve the issue or launch the new project.

3. Multi-tasking is a myth.  Being a problem solver requires us to listen and set aside our other activities and thoughts during the conversation.  Thinking about our next meeting, playing spider solitaire or reading emails while in a conversation will have us miss nuances that could mean great solutions.  Worse, the other person in these conversations stops talking about anything significant; they know you’re not really listening! 

(c)Jeannette Seibly, 2010

Turn mistakes into profits

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When working on large projects or implementing new ideas, mistakes will happen.  It’s how we handle them that will move the process forward, or have everyone CYA their work for fear of retribution by the team leader, or boss.

 1)     Plan on mistakes happening. It’s how you handle them that will make the difference for the current and future success of the project, and your continued growth as a leader.  Praise publicly; counsel privately.

2)     View your people as experts and able to work out differences; it’s not your job to fix any personality quirks.  Resist micromanagement; yet, be willing and able to step in when it’s critical (this should be a rare occurrence).

3)     Stay focused on the goals while managing the milestones.  Remember, the failure of a project normally occurs when the team did not create true goals, weak milestones were established, busy work is deemed a result, and details are overlooked or not considered important.

(c)Jeannette Seibly, 2010

Rewire your reactions to your boss

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Bosses are human too, or so they (like us) often forget. Many employees have good, or at least tolerable bosses that listen to employee ideas.  It’s particularly difficult to get your ideas and points across when you have a bad boss.  If you have this challenge, consider whether it could be your attitude or behavior that’s the cause:

1)     Before a conversation with your boss, practice in front of a mirror; pay particular attention to your facial expressions.  Tape record what you wish to say, and listen to the words you choose. Some words can cause an emotional reaction before your idea is fully presented.

2)     Listen to learn.  Most people are reactionary.  Someone says “x” and we’re off talking about “y” before the person has had a chance to complete their first sentence.  Listen carefully to what they have to say.  Pause and count to three before responding, after they’ve completed talking.

3)     Stick to the facts. We can become emotionally charged on certain issues.  Before your meeting or presentation to your boss, research the facts, so that you have objective points.  Be able to provide possible solutions and be open to considering new options you hadn’t considered.

(c)Jeannette Seibly 2010

Has it been a while since you’ve hired?

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The economy is improving, and your need to hire people that fit your job will increase.  Traditional methods of hiring do not work, and have become costly in more ways than you can calculate.  Now is the time to improve your hiring system, before you need to hire.

1)     Get real about the cost of turnover.  Calculate it!  Write it down!  This information will be critical in determining what you need to do.

2)     Use valid pre-hire assessments that meet legal requirements.  This includes core value assessments (interviewers will catch a lie only about 14% of the time) and job fit assessments, to assess thinking style, core behaviors and occupational motivation/interests.

3)     Train your interviewers.  We all have unconscious biases that we bring to the interview process.  Successful job seekers know how to conform to those (the chameleon effect).  Structure the interview format, and use questions obtained from the assessments to get the right person for the right job.

(c)Jeannette Seibly, 2010

Build Loyalty, Not Followers

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Recently, I talked with a business owner who simply wanted people to show up and do their work.  “I know what needs to be done; they simply need to do what I tell them to do.”  While this type of mindset worked decades ago, it will never creates the loyalty (or level of performance) you wish to build.

1)     They may have the answers. Put aside your automatic judgment that it can’t work and create five reasons why it could work.

2)     Listen to both sides.  When you authentically brainstorm new ideas, processes and procedures, you will come up with out-of-the-box solutions to age-old problems.

3)     Open your mind to new possibilities.  The way it has always been done will not work today.  What can you add gradually, or fade out? Or, what needs a major overhaul.  Start doing it now.

(c)Jeannette Seibly, 2010

Fear of Failure Vs. Fear of Success — What’s the “dif” for my career?

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The difference simply depends upon your mindset.  Are you more likely to think in negative terms (e.g., failure) or positive terms (e.g., success)?  Failure is on the same continuum as success.  Fear is used to mask the reality of what you’d truly love to do, be or have, and prevents us from taking responsibility for our career choices.

When people are in low paying jobs where they are miserable, and use their kids’ expenses (kids is the “politically correct” excuse right now) or other excuses for not hiring a career coach to get a much better paying job that they will love, it is a reflection of them not taking responsibility for their career.

We all have a committee of one in our head (aka ego) that loves to chatter.  This chatter reflects conscious and unconscious thought patterns, and reinforces the limiting fears and concerns.  Or, it supports the illusion that you will have a great career someday when other things change.  This keeps us from becoming responsible for our chatter and pursuing a great career: work smarter, have financial freedom, and realize our dreams now. 

If we were to delve slightly deeper into our chatter, we would find that the fear is:

  • normally a fear of the unknown,
  • not being in control of a situation,
  • being right that others are wrong, or
  • avoiding someone else’s poor opinion of us.

 If we were to delve slightly further, you would find that the true fear is:

  • not saying the right thing in an interview,
  • not having your ideas heard,
  • others not making the right decisions on your behalf,
  • not being clear about your career direction,
  • effectively dealing with difficult bosses, employees or co-workers, and/or
  • making difficult ethical decisions.

The point is that you need to get real about your true fear(s).  When you can specifically state what you fear in your job or having a career that you enjoy, then you can make a positive and profound difference.

Why?  What you focus on will expand.  If you focus on fear, it will consume you, hinder any forward movement and impede your decision-making.  If you focus on your goals and move forward with a specific plan in place, confidence will replace fear.

Steps for Positive Results:

1)     Declare a positive mantra.  This will start you thinking in a different manner.  Without doing so, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to move on to Step Two since your excuses are designed to prevent you from changing anything.

2)     Hire a coach.  WHY?  Usually you will make it harder than it needs to be to achieve results on your own.  We inevitably get in our own way.  Having a coach will support your forward progress to keep you on a positive track.

3)    Design a results oriented goal and focused action plan to move forward, and fine-tune it with your coach.  This will support your results by acknowledging your achievements and reinforcing the positive expansion of them.

 (c)Jeannette L. Seibly, 2009

 Jeannette Seibly is a nationally recognized coach, who has helped thousands of people work smarter, have financial freedom, and realize their dreams now.  Along the way, she created three millionaires.  You can contact her:  JLSeibly@gmail.com OR http://SeibCo.com